Superpass 2012: Loon Mountain Recap

Saturday March 17, 2012: It’s every East Coast park rat’s dream to get an invite to Superpark, and on Saturday that dream became reality at the Loon Mountain stop of the Snowboarder Magazine Superpass series. The contest gives riders the chance to win an invite to the prestigious event, where they get the chance to spend a week riding alongside contest champions, video part heroes and snowboard legends at Superpark 16.

On an unusually warm New Hampshire spring day, The Loon Mountain Park staff set up a perfect course, with three big step-down jumps greeting the riders. There seemed to be a first run curse, with numerous riders falling victim on the first jump. That was until Kai Wiggins dropped in. Kai’s first run consisted of a front 9, cab 9 and back 9, which he stomped perfectly. After watching that run, the other competitors stepped it up and the tricks began to flow. Zach Normandin, Ian Hart and Merrick Joyce all put down cab 9’s with ease and Tyler L’heureux was floating proper back 7 nose grabs on the last jump. The run of the day however, belonged to Brendan Hart. After impressing throughout practice, he put down a cab 7, switch back 9 and ended with a massive front 10. With a solid run in the bag, Brendan also showed his style by stomping a frontside 3 seatbelt on his last run, showing the judges that he has both the hard tricks and stylish tricks on lockdown. As the contest wound down, it was agreed that this was some of the best riding seen at Superpass, making it hard for the judges to handout first place and the coveted Superpark 16 invite.

Third place belonged to Kai Wiggins, who rode well all day and proved that he is one to watch out for. Second place went to Zach Normandin. Zach’s smooth style was great to watch and he is able to make hard tricks seem really easy. Taking first place and the invite to Superpark 16 was none other then Brendan Hart. With a large bag of tricks and unique style, Brendan earned a trip to ride the ultimate park alongside his idols. Thank you to Union, Capita, High Cascade and Spy for their support, as well as Snowboarder Magazine. Make sure to stay tuned to Snowboardermag.com for coverage from Superpark 16.